User blog:Ranthar Wane/State of the Community
Or you could also call this, State of a Community from the resident rambling player. Hello Friends, Comrades, and fellow players of the CC Genre. I write this after sitting in the chat. Witnessing -yet again- the deplorable state that has befallen us. Many of you are aware that I have been playing a number of games in the Forum games section of RuneScape's Forums for nigh over two years. In that expanse of time, I have witnessed a very drastic change within the player base. A change that, if I had not seen it myself, I would hardly believe had occurred. What began as a series of enjoyable and imaginative games has degraded into a hotbed of disagreement, injured egos, and resentment. How did we reach this place? Why do those who are willing to serve on our behalf to help improve these games, and to maintain them, become driven to escape from their positions? That they rue the day they ever agreed to help? I can frankly say, I don't know. What I do know is that it needs to stop. For an example, I had counted Rpvictor as a good friend of mine for quite some time. (As far as time in the genre goes.) I was aghast at the things he told me about how his service and honest evaluations were treated by many players. In those days, my eyes where opened. I saw how players who had once started as logical, cool headed people, slowly degraded into touchy, aggressive sociopaths. I saw also the massive toll that such players and their incessant complaints, arguments, and other gripes wore on Rpvictor and the other remaining leaders of the Genre, who did their best to fairly and realistically respond to players. But how where they repaid? Players plotted to remove them from office for 'Bias'. The most fair-minded players in the genre where repeatedly accused of 'Bias' for or against a particular player. I had never heard such outrageous accusations, and still haven't. They where, however, enough. Rp largely left the Genre, and quite frankly, seeing all the abuse he took at the hands of the so called 'community', I can't blame him. I haven't seen or spoken to Rp in months, and if I did, I would apologize profusely for not having defended him enough. He didn't deserve the treatment he got, but has it gotten any better? No, when Scorched took NC back over, and Legless was eventually elected into the position of president, the same cycle repeated. Legless only remains today out of respect for a few people who asked him to remain. So I ask you again, how did we reach this state? Once we where indeed a 'community'. A friendly (though competitive) community, a community of people that could at least speak civilly to one another. One needs only spend a few minutes in the Wiki chat with three other players to see that such a community no longer exists. It's time to wake up people. Our games are dying, friendships broken, and all resemblance of a community forgotten. It is time to patch old wounds, to forgive and forget, to live and let live. You don't have to like each other; you have to deal with one another. If you have a personal issue with someone, don't bring it into the chat, keep it private. I have learned part of this lesson the hard way, both here and in the Real World. And I entreat you all, if only for the sake of the overlong memory of a few of us, to study it as well. ~~Wayne. Category:Blog posts Category:Blog posts Category:Wayne